The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1887-05-13
the WORKMAN WORTHY or HIS HIRE.

the WORKMAN WORTHY OF HIS HIRE.
A condition of things which war
rants the placing and maintaining of
wages at high pitch is desirable in
any and every lana. High wages
always and everywhere mean high
living. But experience has taught
that high wages with high living are
better than low wages with low
living.
The employer of labor cannot, Of
course, pay more for labor, whether
skilled or otherwise, than it is worth
to him. That is, he cannot pay
higher sum for labor than he can
realize on the products of that labor.
Neither can he be expected, in a
general way, to employ labor with
out realizing a moderate profit there
from. Whether man employs
workmen for a plantation or a shop,
it is right and reasonable that he
should make some profit out of them.
But employers Of labor should be
satisfied with moderate share of
the returns, and not appropriate the
whole or the major part thereof.
There is tendency among en-
ployers-happily not so strong in
this country as in most others-to
grind as much as possible out of the
poor laborer, and give him as small
pay as possible in return. And
thus it is often found that after
years of servitude, hard work, and
hard living, the poor fellow who
earns his bread by the sweat of his
brow, is in no better position than
at the commencement, while his
employer lives in ease and luxury,
which his laborer's muscle or skill,
or combination of both, has pro-
duced.
I Strange to say, it not unfrequently
happens that the man who, by the
blessing of Providence, or huke of
fortune, or something else, has risen
from the ranks of the laborer to be
an employer of labor, becomes
oppressive to the class from which
he has risen. When he gets up on
wheels, he forgets the time when he
padded the hoof. During the trials
of his early days, when he met the
rich mans scOrn and the Ddrcenu'S
insolence, he had to "grin and bear
it," Because he had to accept low
wages, and eat the bread of humility.
therefore, says he, let others do the
same. 1t is good for their health
and experience. He now has large
possessions, wears claw-hammer
coat and boiled shirt, looks like an
ass and feels like snob, and there.
fore it becomes him to despise and
oppress the class from which he has
emerged, like a tawdry butterfly
from a repulsive grub.
These islands are not altogether
without this class of employers, men
of .sordid minds, who, having risen
from meagre positions, talk about
what the laborer can get in Europe,
and would oppress and cheat him
out of his just dues. Why, what
has brought us all here? Was it
not, in the majority of cases, neces-
sity, accompanied with a desire to
better our position? Talk about
what laborers and mechanics get in
Europe! What would our Minis.
ters, Members Of Legislature, and
great men generally get in Europe?
Why, they would be imprisoned as
ugly, or mean suspicious-looliing
characters. Would all their intelli-
gence concentrated in one lump get
them bread and beef, unless they
returned to their original avocations?
Scarcely. We hope never to see the
day when the European workingman
on these islands, whether mechanic
or unskilled laborer, shall be re-
duced to the level of his fellow man
in his fatherland, in the matter of
remuneration for toll "The laborer
is worthy of his hire" and it will be
unfortunate for all classes of the
community when that hire is lowered
to the low figure of the over-popu-
lated countries of the Old World.